Ways To Combat Germs During Back To School Season

I love the routine and fresh start a new school year brings. What I don't love are the germs. Inevitably during the first two weeks of school, my girls come home sniffling and sneezing. Before long those sniffles and sneezes turn into full-blown coughs and colds, and soon after, I am making chicken soup, and we are waiting at the pharmacy for a prescription for an antibiotic to be filled.

This school year I have vowed that things will be different. Schools are breeding grounds for germs, and kids aren't known for their diligence when it comes to frequent hand washing. Keeping germs at bay can seem like a monumental task, but putting a few procedures in place to guard against the infestation of germs can help.

We are kicking off the school year with a few simple procedures in place to fend off those pesky germs.

1. Encourage your children to wash with soap and warm water whenever possible. This includes all public places as well as at home. As soon as we walk in the door from being out, we wash our hands immediately.

3. Place hand sanitizers in convenient places such as attached to backpacks and lunch boxes and in the car. When soap and water aren't an option, hand sanitizers will do the trick, and kids love them!

4. Teach your children to keep their hands and fingers away from their mouths. Germs are passed via touching and most of the touching we do is with our hands. Keeping hands and fingers out of little mouths will help cut down on the possibility of germs being ingested.

5. Boost little immune systems. I am a big believer that food is medicine. Load your kids up with foods that are rich in antioxidants so that their bodies can fight off germs naturally.